


In the Expanse

by PossiblyAwesomeAO3



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Season 6 Spoilers, and has every right to be really, lance in the astral plane, lance is confused, season 6, the whole thing with shiro towards the end of the season has me convinced this happened, with red
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-11 06:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15309774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PossiblyAwesomeAO3/pseuds/PossiblyAwesomeAO3
Summary: There's a flash of blue light, and white-hot pain.And then there's...nothing.And then, there's something.





	In the Expanse

**Author's Note:**

> the fact that shiro dying is what put him in the astral plane makes me 100% positive lance was in the astral plane for a short period of time

He's only thinking of Allura when he does it. 

Everything around them is going wrong. The shield's shattered, the power is down, and Lance can see the cracks in between them starting to spark. He's had enough experience with malfunctioning equipment to last him a lifetime since he became a paladin, both from watching Hunk and Pidge tinker with machines in the lion hangars to being the one inside the malfunctioning machine. 

So, when he sees familiar blue lightning starting to flare up underneath Blue, he reacts before he thinks. 

"Allura!" 

He shoves her out of the way, just in time for an explosion to go off, directly underneath him, right where Allura had been. 

There's a flash of blue light, and a searing, white-hot kind of pain. He has enough time to think that it's a good thing it was him taking the hit instead of Allura before he closes his eyes. 

 

* * *

 

For a brief second, Lance is in nothingness. For a brief moment, Lance  _is_  nothingness. He can't see, or hear, or touch anything. He feels oddly weightless. 

And then he jolts up with a gasp for air, and he's somewhere. He's sitting on something that feels kind of like a floor, and he looks down to see something that looks like black glass, reflecting the universe back to him, a sky full of stars. That same sky is above him. He is surrounded completely by the universe, and he can't help but being reminded of the strange place he found himself in back on Olkarion, when the team worked to give themselves a boost in quintessence. 

Lance tries out his voice. 

"Hello?"

There is no response but his own voice, echoing back to him across the vast plane of the universe. 

Lance pushes himself to his feet, shakily standing up on the odd, glass floor. It feels like he's standing on nothing, and when he looks down at his feet, it looks like it, too. It almost makes him feel sick. 

_Paladin._

The word suddenly echoes through his head, and Lance jumps with a yelp he can't contain. 

"Who's there?" He says, and he notices that his voice sounds off, in a way that he can't really place. "Hello?" 

_Paladin_ , the voice repeats.

Lance turns, and Red is suddenly there, looming over him. Lance jumps again, but this time, it's followed by a sigh of relief. Wherever he is, Red's there, too. It must be okay. Maybe he was teleported somewhere? Somehow? He's not really sure, but he guesses that some sort of space magic junk is probably behind this. It's been nothing but space magic junk recently. 

"Red." He says, relieved. "Okay, you got here fast. Let's get back to the others." 

Red doesn't move to let him in. He stays as still as a statue, as if he never even heard Lance. Lance tilts his head, and raises his eyebrows. 

"Uh, Red? Hello? Did you hear me?  We gotta' go, like,  _now?"_  Lance asks. "Remember? Labor planet, radiation belt, the Omega shield? We're kind of the only ones who can save the entire planet?" 

Red stays completely still, and that creates an uneasy feeling in Lance. It feels way too similar to when Blue rejected him for Allura. He forces down the panic that's building inside of him. Red's not rejecting him. He can't be. Red wouldn't just leave him out here in the middle of nowhere to die.

Would he?

"Red, come on, enough playing around." Lance says, with a clear hint of fear in his voice. "We gotta' go back, I gotta' go back. We have a mission. Take me back."

_I cannot,_  the voice says again, and it takes a few seconds for Lance to realize that it's Red, actually speaking to him. 

"Wait, you can actually talk? Since when?" Lance asked, and sets his hands on his hips. "Do you mean you could have been fully explaining every upgrade you gave me instead of just raising up that bayard thingy, and being, like, 'do it', or --"

_Paladin._

Red's voice is firm as he cuts Lance off, and Lance is suddenly reminded of every teacher he's ever had that's warned him to use his 'inside voice'. He shrinks back slightly. 

"Geez. I think I liked you better when you couldn't talk." He says, and rubs the back of his neck. "Why can't you take me back, then?" 

_There is no body._

Red's words send a chill down Lance's spine, and he's almost afraid to ask what Red means. Lance looks down at himself, doing a mental check. Yep, feet, legs, a waist, torso, arms, hands, head. It looked like his body to him. 

"What do you mean, no body?" He asks. "I have a body, it's right here. I'm in it, like...right now? You can see that, right?" 

_That is not your physical form_ , Red says, and Lance stands stock still for ten seconds. 

Although, it might be an hour. 

He doesn't know how to explain it, but he's not quite sure how much time passes. It feels weird. 

When he speaks again, his voice is shaking. 

"W-what?" 

_You sacrificed to save another._

Lance doesn't want to hear Red say it. He doubles over like he's been punched in the gut, and covers his ears. No. No, no, no, he's fine. Lance is fine, he's certain of it. After all, if this wasn't his physical form, or whatever, then his heart wouldn't be racing right now, right? Right? 

_Paladin,_  Red's voice speaks up again, and even though Lance has his hands tightly over his ears, he hears Red's voice as clear as a bell. Red's tone is much more sympathetic than the last time.  _Paladin--_

"No." Lance chokes out. "No, no, no, don't say it - "

_I was able to retrieve your spirit from the void, but--_

"Red,  _please_ -"

_Your physical form has perished._

Lance's knees buckle, and he collapses to the ground. His entire body shakes as he covers his head with his hands. He can't be dead. He can't be dead because of some small repair mission given to him by Lotor, fucking  _Lotor_ , of all people. He does not plan on dying on a mission for that L'Oreal model ripoff. He still has a planet to get back to, a family, a home --

Something breaks inside of him, and he lets loose a guttural kind of scream that echoes across the vast emptiness. 

He isn't sure how long it lasts. Red doesn't say a word. Red lets Lance scream, lets him let everything out. In the back of Lance's mind, he wonders if Red's seen this before. A part of him wonders that if, when Alfor died, Red brought him here. He wonders if Alfor had the same reaction. He doubts it. Still, Red seems to know that Lance doesn't want to be comforted in this very moment. He just needs to scream. 

He screams until his throat hurts, and he has to stop. He's not sure when exactly he started crying, but his cheeks are wet, and there's a heavy lump in his throat that he can't seem to swallow. 

_Paladin-_ Red's voice is softer than usual. Comforting. 

"No." Lance says, and he tries to hold back his tears, but it's not really working. "I'm not dead. I can't be dead. I'm not dying before twenty-one. I still have an entire life ahead of me, I can't-" 

_Paladin_. Red's voice soothes him slightly. It's not enough to make him stop crying, but it's enough for him to finally be able to take a breath without feeling like he's drowning.  _You must remain calm_. 

Lance lets out a bitter sort of laugh. "Remain calm? Right, right, of course, why didn't I think of that? It's not like I've _died_ and woken up in a _void_ somewhere!" 

_Astral plane_. Red corrects, and Lance sighs. 

"Whatever, just send me back!" He shouts. "Please, Red, you've got to send me back, I can't just die on everyone, I-" 

_There is no body._  Red reminds him.  _No living body. It would be dangerous to send you back_.

Lance is tempted to let out a frustrated scream, so he does. "Okay, fine! Tell me where I am, then! I'll find my own way home!" 

_It would be dangerous to go back_. Red repeats. 

"I'm already dead, apparently! what could possibly be worse?" Lance asks, and he can admit, the way he crosses his arms over his chest is pretty much an exact replica of how he acted when he was five and didn't get his way. He can't help it, he's frustrated, angry, sad and panicking all at the same time, and that usually tends to bring out the worst in him. 

_Your spirit could try to take form_. Red said. _Which would cause you to be split in between two planes, forever flickering back and forth between each one, not quite able to fully exist on either. Living forever with your very being torn between two dimensions._

Oh. 

Yeah, that did sound worse. 

"Okay, fair enough." Lance said, sighing. "But there's got to be a way to get me back to them, right? I can't just stay here forever, I need to find some way to get back, I need to help them!" 

_You cannot._ Red says. _You have done all you can. Rest._

Lance doesn't want to rest. He turns away from Red, looking out across the astral plane. It seems like an endless abyss of space, but there has to be something else. There has to be. 

Lance breaks into a full sprint, keeping his eyes forward. He doesn't care how long it'll take, there has to be some way out of here, and if he does this for long enough, he'll find it. He will. He has to. 

_Paladin._

Lance turns at the sound of Red's voice, and finds Red right behind him. 

He hasn't moved an inch. 

_That will not work._

 Lance lets out a frustrated groan. "Okay, fine. What will?" 

_Paladin..._

"Stop saying 'Paladin' like that!" He yells. "I'm going to go back, I'm going to find a way! A way that _won't_ split me in two, thank you very much!" 

"...Lance?" 

Lance freezes in place when he hears another voice say his name. It's not Red's voice, and something seems almost wrong with it. It sounds like someone's trying to patch through a bad radio signal, complete with static and a choppy voice. Still, Lance gets a weird feeling in his stomach that he knows that voice from somewhere, but try as he might, he can't put his finger on it. The choppiness and static makes it harder to get a grasp on the voice than he'd expect. 

"Hello?" He calls back, and this time, there's no response. 

_Paladin_. Red says, and he sounds like he's tense. 

"Who was that?" Lance asks, and looks back towards Red, confusion written across his face. 

_Someone who is not supposed to be here._ Red says. _He is not supposed to be able to make it here._

Well, that does absolutely nothing to curb Lance's nerves. 

"Right, that guy." He says, and he gulps. "Uh...Red? Any chance you could be a little less cryptic?"

Red says nothing. Of course. 

Lance bites his lip, and his hands shake slightly as he looks around. Who else could be here? Oh, Christ, he hopes it's not Alfor. Sure, it would be pretty cool to meet the guy, after all he's heard, but he really doesn't want to look Alfor in the eyes and be recognized as the guy who shamelessly flirted with Allura for months. 

He doesn't think that would be a great first impression. 

Lance backs up as he looks around the empty astral plane. He's not going to go so far as to hide behind Red's legs, but just being closer to Red makes him feel a bit safer. As frustrated as he is with Red, Red's the only familiar thing here. 

"Lance?" 

He hears the voice again, and this time, really listens to it. It's definitely not Alfor. He remembers Alfor's voice from the whole castle glitch situation, and this voice isn't as deep as that one was. 

And then, suddenly, there's someone flickering in front of him. He's a far way off, but Lance can see the outline of a person, glowing a soft purple. 

_Paladin._ Red's voice speaks, sounding urgent. Something is happening. 

Lance admittedly doesn't really pay attention. He leans forward slightly, and squints at the person. He can almost get a good look at him, he can almost-

"Lance?" 

_Paladin._ Red urges, and he sounds almost frantic. 

It hits Lance like a ton of bricks, and his eyes widen. 

"Shiro?" 

The entire astral plane lights up a bright blue color that quickly turns into a blinding white light. Lance squeezes his eyes tightly shut, and covers his ears as a high pitched squeal starts up. 

And just as quickly as it started, everything fades back to nothingness.

 

* * *

 

He wakes up with a start to see Allura sitting in front of him, a relieved smile on her face. He doesn't know what she did, or how the hell she did it, but he knows it was her from the way she's looking at him. 

His memories from what happened are already starting to slip away, retreating back to the plane they belong to. He can't remember exactly who it was he saw, or what he said to Red...was Red even there? He's not sure. 

But there's one thing that he is sure of, and he's happy to let everything else slip away. He's here, he's back, he's going to be okay. He looks at Allura, and returns her smile.

"You _saved_ me." 


End file.
